Razorbacks Use Late Goal To Defeat Tennessee, 2-1

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Univ. of Ark.) - Senior Evan Palmer found the back of the net for the fifth time of the season in the 88th minute to lift the University of Arkansas soccer team (11-5, 4-4) over Tennessee (7-6-3, 2-4-2), 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at Razorback Field.

"Sunday is always our grind day," Palmer said. "We have to work really hard and work as a team and you could tell we did a good job with that today. We knew coming in to face Tennessee, that they would be a really good matchup for us. We knew we would need to work really hard and implement our game plan and that's what we did."

After a defensive battle for 42 minutes in the second half of the game, Palmer found herself in the box awaiting a corner kick. Junior Tyler Allen placed the ball into the box for Allie Tripp and Ashleigh Ellenwood to each get a touch on the ball before Palmer found her second game-winning goal of the season.

"I thought there were moments where we were really good and moments when Tennessee was really good," head coach Colby Hale said. "I thought we played hard for 90 minutes. There were some times when we weathered some storms and we hit the post and they hit the post, those shots could have gone either way. The big thing is that we won a Sunday match and we played a hard 90 minutes. Every point is important. We have played in six overtime games without any ties, we play to win and every point is massive."

Trailing 1-0, sophomore Ashleigh Ellenwood scored the equalizer in the 28th minute of the match to erase the early Tennessee lead. Senior Yvonne DesJarlais and sophomore Blake Pruitt were each credited with an assist on the goal. Ellenwood now has a team leading 10 goals on the season which ties her for the No. 10 spot in program single-season history. Arkansas is now 8-1 in games where Ellenwood scores a goal.

Arkansas keeper Cameron Carter faced 14 shots for the match with five saves, including a diving stop that kept the score tied late in the second half, to earn her 10th win of the season. In total, Arkansas had 14 shots with four on frame.

The Razorbacks return to action at Auburn on Friday, Oct. 25. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. start.